Why do I bother??

Sundays are hard.

We get up and get breakfast going and we always take our time because church doesn’t start until 11:00.

Then suddenly it’s 10:42 and somebody’s gotten ketchup on their white shirt, a sock is missing, a diaper blows out and I can’t find my keys.

Mike’s at work so it’s me, flying solo.

I pull everybody together, say a quick family prayer pleading for Heavenly Father to “bless us to be reverent” and off we go.

And the bickering starts. I’m driving through the drizzle singing happy Primary Songs hoping it’ll have some sort of calming effect on the boys.

We quietly (ha) enter the chapel and find a seat in the back and since we’re there before the sacrament has been blessed, I call it on time.

The boys fight over who gets to sit next to Kaylee so I pry them apart and sit myself down between them.

We make it through the passing of the sacrament without any major catastrophe. Maybe…just maybe we will be successful today!

Kaylee is fussier than normal so I pick her up out of her car seat and the smell.is.foul.

I instruct Hayden and Dallin to STAY PUT until I get back.

I’m gone no more than 3 minutes. I get back into the chapel and my row is empty. *facepalm*

Hayden is on his way back down from the stand grinning ear to ear because he bore his testimony. Sweet, sure…but I needed him to sit in the pew with Dallin because, well…Dallin is a red-headed handful!

Thankfully our sweet nursery leader has corralled Dallin and she’s got him on her lap.

Okay. One minor slip-up, no big deal. We’re in the back so nobody saw, right?

Kaylee is still abnormally fussy.

I try to comfort her in my arms and she gets louder and louder, so I take her out.

Next thing I know boys are giggling, crayons are flying and I’m ready to book it the heck out of there.

Finally sacrament meeting is over and the boys head to Primary and Nursery. I head to the Mother’s room to feed Kaylee so I miss most of Sunday School.

Baby’s been fed and changed so I brave Relief Society where not five minutes into the lesson she spits up ALL.OVER.ME. I’m covered from my shoulder all the way down my dress, so I head back out to the ever familiar foyer where I clean myself up.

I stay there because by that time I’ve hit my limit and I don’t want to be another distraction.

So why do I bother? I end up embarrassed during Sacrament meeting, missing Sunday School and soaked in sour breast milk in Relief Society.

I’m driving home and I’m asking myself why on earth I even made the effort. Why do I get everybody dressed up only to end up frazzled and tired?

Then Hayden pipes up. “Mom, did you know angels write down everything you say, even the bad things?”

“What?” I say to myself. “Could he actually be absorbing anything into that little head that is constantly spinning?”

“The angels write down what we say and show Jesus so we have to say nice things.”

Color me humbled.

Later that evening, Mike gets home from work and gathers us for Family Home Evening.

We start by singing “The Rainbow Song” all the while Dallin is running around with a “gun” fashioned out of some sort of pipe singing in between the “bam bam bam” sounds he is making.

Being that it was Fast and Testimony Meeting and Mike missed it, he wanted everybody to share their testimonies.

We just asked Dallin what made him happy and his reply was a sweet “God” and then pointed to Kaylee and said “Her.” Dallin knows that his Father in Heaven and his family make him happy.

That’s why I bother.

And I’ll be doing it again next Sunday.